Arne Duncan-led event interrupted by Occupy Austin

Correction: An earlier version had the wrong date for the start of Occupy the Department of Education. The event will be held March 30-April 2.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan was just starting an education presentation to an audience at Austin Community College when he was interrupted by three protesters from Occupy Austin who stood up and shouted out a prepared statement.

Duncan and the crowd listened to the protesters, who yelled their opposition to policies that allow public schools to be privatized and other issues.

When they were done, according to Education Department spokesman Justin Hamilton, Duncan started to give his presentation and a protester again interrupted, at which point Duncan said that he had listened to the activists quietly and now would like the activists to listen to him and the other speakers. The crowd applauded, Hamilton said.

Here’s a video of part of the event taken on a cell phone:

Activists with the Occupy movement and other organizations are planning a protest at the Department of Education from March 30 to April 2. Seminars, film screenings, meetings with policymakers and old-fashioned marches are scheduled to protest corporate-driven school reform.

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Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.